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Former state Rep. Stephen Dyer launched a new blog today on education called 10th Period. Dyer and I were colleagues at the Beacon Journal before he got smart and went to law school. In the legislature, he was among the most active in shaping education policy for the Democrats. He is currently the Education Policy Fellow at Innovation Ohio. For this blog, he promises to host a thoughtful discussion with all viewpoints welcome.

Gov. John Kasich appointed Paul R. Bishop of Canton to a nine-year term on the board of trustees for the Northeast Ohio Medical University. Bishop is chairman and chief executive of H-P Products and of Engineered Tube Bends. He replaces Judith Barnes Lancaster, whose term on the medical school board has expired.

• 1961 graduates of Akron's North Hill Catholic grade schools St. Anthony, St. Hedwig, St. Martha and Christ the King will hold a 50-year reunion from 6 to 10 p.m. Dec. 30 at the Carovillese Hall, 570 E. Cuyahoga Falls Ave., Akron. Faculty, staff and members of adjacent classes are welcome. For information, contact Carol Lieb at 330-762-6067 or clieb@kent.edu.

• Akron St. Vincent High School's Class of 1967 will reunite Sept. 12 for the St. Vincent-St. Mary/Hoban football game at InfoCision Stadium at the University of Akron and Sept. 22 at the Red Fox in Cuyahoga Falls. For information, contact George Rooney at grooney@ralaw.com.

WASHINGTON: A report praises Ohio for having more environmentally-friendly school projects under way than any other state.

The nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council says the state has 315 school projects registered and certified under the council's LEED program. LEED L-E-E-D stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and provides a set of international standards for energy-efficient and environmentally friendly methods and materials.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a story about how St. Hilary parish is helping 350 kids at Helen Arnold elementary school and Akron Digital Academy by sponsoring a program that gives students food packages to get them through the weekend so they can return on Monday ready for school. The program is called Blessings in a Backpack. Here's a video I shot last night while the volunteers packed the food bags. You can make donations at the national website. Just make sure you specify that you want it to go to the Akron program. You an also email the local program at Blessingsakron@gmail.com for information about volunteering or donating. They need $28,000 a year to make it work. The Millennium Fund for Children kicked in $1,000 this year.

Ohio will receive up to $70 million to improve the quality of programs that serve high-needs children from birth to five years and to carefully measure the results of programs in alignment with Governor John Kasich's goals of creating better metrics and coordination among agencies that serve young people.

Stephen Dyer (former state rep and Beacon Journal reporter--not at the same time, of course) is quoted in the New York Times about the profitability and political influence of online schools. Dyer is now an Education Policy Fellow at Innovation Ohio, a progressive policy think tank known in some circles as the Strickland administration in exile (president and CEO Janetta King was Strickland's deputy chief of staff for policy; Dyer was a key ally and architect in the Ohio House on Strickland's education budget). Here's the part of the NYT story by Stephanie Saul that mentions Dyer:

The protest was prompted by questions Mr. Dyer had raised over the state's financing formula for charter and online schools. The group describes itself as a coalition of parents, teachers and employees of the schools. But Mr. Dyer said that his wife questioned the people carrying the signs and found out they were paid temp agency workers.

The Center for Neuroscience and Society at the University of Pennsylvania is accepting applications for the 2012 Neuroscience Boot Camp, a 9-day intensive seminar for non-neuroscientists. Here's a brief description:

In related news, one of the researchers I heard speak at the third biennial conference of the International Mind, Brain and Education conference in San Diego in June has won that association's 2011 Transforming Education Through Neuroscience Award.

The November election results in five close contests, including the defeated Akron school levy and two mayoral races, will stand after a recount of ballots Friday at the Summit County Board of Elections confirmed the outcomes.

The Akron school levy failed Nov. 8 by only 203 votes, enough to warrant an automatic recount because the difference between winning and losing was less than one-half of 1 percent of all votes cast.

The Akron school board this morning authorized the district to put a 5.9 mill levy on the March ballot. The request is slightly higher than the levy that narrowly failed in November, but it would collect the same amount, about $14 million a year.

The initial request was based on an estimate that one mill of property tax valuation would collect $2.56 million. Turns out the official valuation, which wasn't available when the district got on the November ballot, is $2.44 million per mill.

Children who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence are considered homeless and are eligible for services under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. For more information about services or how to help in Akron, call Debra Manteghi, program manager of Project RISE, at 330-761-2969.

Despite tough times elsewhere and a revenue shortfall, trustees at the University of Akron approved a wide-ranging slate of pay increases Wednesday.

Revenue fell $4 million short of its year-to-date budgeted level of $191 million, or about 2 percent, mostly because fewer students enrolled than expected. Expenditures also exceeded the budget by $1 million, according to board documents.